A dyslexic problem with Blackwork embroidery

I’m not sure how many people know I am dyslexic, I didn’t find out until I was part way through my physics degree, when a tutor looked over my shoulder at my lab book & stated; “ sorry I didn’t know you’re dyslexic”. Follow by a brief conversation about my lab book looking just like his. I am thankful for him pointing it out. I thought I was just bad a spelling & hated reading out loud.

Forward on to the Blackwork castle, some of the visual distortions came back. I found it very difficult to count & get the shading correct.

Blackwork embroidery of Cooling Castle in Kent UK

I happened to mention to one of the embroidery tutors about how difficult I had found it , compared to the Whitework, & that I happened to be dyslexic, & would normally work on lilac paper. We had a conversation about coloured fabric & my ability to to shade correctly. I found lilac linen & l’ve framed up my small slate frame. I found a photo of my Lilly I grew in the summer.

Blackwork design tracing

To transfer the design on to the linen we tend to use the tacking method. The design in drawn on to tissue paper, & then tacked on normally with a pale blue machine thread, but I have lilac linen instead on white.

Tacking through the tissue paper

After the tissue paper is revived.

After a bit of sampling, I decided on a stitch

Stitch sample.

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Puffin feet

Progress has been slow over the Christmas & new year holidays, I did finished my puffin’s feet. I like the iridescent gold leather & the over stretched purls, I added a coral stranded cotton core, using the same colour used in the beak.

Gold work Puffin update

Slowly progressing , I’ve finished working on the wing for now. It’s time to work on the area under the wing & the feet. I need to start thinking about giving him something to stand on, in the original photo I took my design from he’s standing on a rocky outcrop with sea pinks. Time to think about that too

Puffin wing

I managed to finish the lower wing bar today. Attempting the cut work through the carpet felt padding has been a nightmare. The thicker the padding is, the more unlikely you are to know where the needles will come out 😅. If your needle comes out in the cut gold it damages it. Too many cracks or damaged bits & you loose marks.

Anyway, I bent so many needles 🪡, I’ve had to order more. Cut work will be resumed once the needles arrive. Meanwhile, I have scattered chipping I can continue to work on.

Puffin head

Today I’ve started working on my gold work puffin embroidery again.

The head is finished, I’m going to return to the wing to add the plate and cut work ( lengths of cut wire) over soft string padding.

Dragon jewellery

Beaded dragon necklace

I’ve been busy beading over the weekend. I’ve finished both the dragon necklace & bracelet kits from spellbound beads. I’m afraid I couldn’t get the bracelet into the fancy shape it suggested, so I wrapped it round my rolling pin. One does have to get creative, to form a wrap around bracelet.

Dragon bracelet & necklace

Having got it into shape, I then had to work out how it could be posted to the family in Scotland with out it ending up a squished mess. That’s when I remembered I had brought those round tissues for the car. My niece can use the tissues too, so a win, win situation.

Cooling castle is finished

Cooling castle in Blackwork embroidery

I’ve finally finished my Blackwork, it might need a couple more tweaks before it’s mounted & handed in to be assessed. I’m so happy to get this one finished, it’s been hanging around for about 2 years.

Puffin eye

Eye design in silver, red & black metallic threads

I’ve been busy working away on the upper part of the head & eye. I’m really pleased with the look of the finished eye. I hope it’s going to look even better once the silver leather cheek is in place.

I’ve now got to start working on the beak design, I have various metallic threads & machine threads to help me create a stylised, but natural looking beak. This is definitely going to need working out on the practice frame, I hope to have something suitable for my tutor to comment about on Friday.

Wing area in progress

The wing area is still in progress, unfortunately I ran out of the gold passing thread I was using, so I hope the RSN still has the same reel & I can get some more of the same. I didn’t like to start the next part of the wing, just in case it’s not exactly the same & it notices. It was nice to have a break from pulling all the way through the layers of carpet felt & especially plunging the ends through, I had quite sore fingers at one point.

Gold work Puffin the couching begins

The first part of my couching marathon has begun. This was my first attempt at a basket weave pattern over hard string padding. The next couching phase is the wing area, leaving the soft string padding for cut work & gold plate to go in near to the end.

Gold work puffin: string padding

Showing felt & strong padding for gold work

The padding for the metallic threads is finished. The white area will be silver & orange area gold.

I’ve also been thinking about the basket weave pattern for the chest, the face & beak. I have acquired some rather nice red & black metallic threads for the beak & some iridescent gold leather for the feet & iridescent silver for the cheek. I’m glad I’m sampling & working designs & stitches out for myself, with a little help from my tutors.